82 INSECTS INJURIOUS TO FORESTS. 
Hagen ¢ briefs the records of various travelers as to the immune (?) 
or termite-resistant wood species of the countries of the world. 
Froggatt ° states that in Australia red pine is more resistant than clear 
pine; that ‘‘jarrah’’ is said to be resistant, though not immune; and 
that desert cypress when sawn up appears to be resistant, but in the 
form of logs is not immune. The Rev. Joseph Assmuth, S. J.,¢ of 
Bombay, India, states that “deal’’? and “pukka” teak are injured 
by termites; he gives photographs of the damaged specimens of wood. 
In answer to a letter of inquiry he states: 
The ‘‘pukka”’ teak is what is called here in India ‘‘Burmese teak,’’ Tectonia 
grandis L. ‘‘Pukka’’ means genuine; it is used here in opposition to the less reliable 
timber of ‘‘Malabar teak,’’ though both come from the same species of wood. The 
difference of both lies, I am told, in the seasoning of the timber, or rather in the differ- 
ent mode of felling the trees. In Malabar they cut off a ring of bark from near the base 
of the tree, so that the tree dries up while standing still erect, and is then felled. This 
seems to cause a gradual withdrawal of the oils contained in the wood, which makes 
the wood more liable to the attack of white ants. In Burmah the tree is felled as it 
stands and allowed to dry up lying on the ground. Thus the peculiar oils remain in 
the wood and are preserved in it, and consequently this timber is less palatable to 
the white ants, and shunned by them until in course of time the oils evaporate also. 
Then the white ants go for it too. Such, at any rate, is my theory. I can’t explain 
otherwise why the one sort is at once attached by white ants, whereas the other remains 
for a longer period, at least, immune. The case therefore is briefly this: Malabar teak 
(here also called “‘jungle teak’’) is attacked by the white ants from the beginning. 
Burmah or ‘‘pukka”’ teak remains safe for a certain period, sometimes longer, some- 
times shorter, but it is not absolutely safe either. 
‘‘Dealwood’’ is the common European wood used for boxes and the like; it is usu- 
ally timber of Abies, Picea, or Pinus. It is the wood most readily attacked by ter- 
mites of different species. 
Kanehira,? tabulates the results of experiments with a large 
number of species of woods as to their relative resistance to termite 
attack in Formosa, Japan. Reasons are advanced as to the probable 
causes which render the wood ‘‘termite proof” (?). The conclusions 
he draws can not be accepted without further details as to how the 
tests were conducted and after a longer period of experimentation. 
Certain of the woods he lists as ‘immune”’ are known to be attacked 
by termites. 
METHODS OF OBTAINING PHOTOGRAPHS FOR THE ILLUSTRATIONS. 
The photographs of the insects reproduced in this paper were made 
after a method devised by Mr. H.S. Barber, of the Bureau of Ento- 
mology. The specimens were placed either between horizontal 



a Loc. cit. 
b Froggatt, W. W. Whiteants. (Termitide.) Misc. Pub. 874, Dept. Agr. N.S. 
Wales, Sydney, 1905, p. 43-44. 
¢ Assmuth, J. Wood-destroying white ants of the Bombay presidency. Jour. 
Bombay Nat. Hist. Soc., v. 22, no. 2, p. 372-384, 4 pls., September 30, 1913. 
d Kanehira. On some timbers which resist the attack of termites. Indian For- 
ester, v. 40, no. 1, p. 23-41, January, 1914. 
